A new state program will allow people who would ordinarily not qualify for unemployment benefits to receive aid during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, or PUA, is supported by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and allows self-employed workers, independent contractors and “gig economy” workers to receive unemployment assistance.
Rona Suzuki, director of the state Department of Taxation, said during a news conference Wednesday that the program had a soft launch earlier this week and already received nearly 3,000 applications that are being processed.
“Please know this is a pre-application process,” Suzuki said. “It’s not the processing of the claim, or the payments being issued. We’re still working on all the configurations necessary to process that claim.”
To submit an application for PUA benefits, applicants must provide their Social Security number, date of birth, a state ID, 2019 wage records, contact information, bank account and routing numbers and, if not a U.S. citizen, a USCIS identification number.
Applications can be submitted online via pua.hawaii.gov.
Meanwhile, Suzuki said state workers are clearing about 10,000 conventional unemployment applications each day, gradually chipping away at the glut of new cases that arose after the pandemic began.
About 225,000 people had applied for benefits as of Tuesday.